


Who we are

by SioDymph



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Dehumanization, Gen, Identity Issues, Mental Abuse, Spoilers - Journal 3, Stockholm Syndrome, TBH kinda fast-paced, may go back and change up a lot later, references of abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-09
Updated: 2016-10-09
Packaged: 2018-08-20 12:20:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8248693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SioDymph/pseuds/SioDymph
Summary: Not all the unhappy fates Ford barely avoided came from Bill's hands...





	

**Author's Note:**

> I would say I'm sorry. But the only thing I'm really sorry about is any poor grammar or spelling I missed. Enjoy!

Shifty groaned as he slowly woke up. His collar pressed uncomfortable along the side of his throat, his eyes were lined with sand, his mouth felt way too dry and his stomach grumbled painfully. He wasn't quite sure how long he was asleep but he knew it had been deep enough that for once he actually felt well-rested. And he couldn't remember waking up from any nightmares. Though the dreams he had were still very strange and left him feeling off kilter. Like something was wrong.

Using more sense than sight, he fumbled out of his nest of blankets. Everything seemed so dark except for one blinding fluorescent lamp outside his cage shining over _him_... The Author.

He squinted his eyes to try and get a better view. The Author was sitting with his back turned away from him and curled over his desk. The scribbling sounds of pen on paper told him that he was writing. The Author's hair was neatly combed and his coat was cleanly pressed. Unlike his own appearance; hair greasy and unruly, his coat was coated in a layer of dirt and fraying at some parts along the bottom, not to mention the poor state of his undershirt and pants.

Trying to brush some of the dirt off himself and readjusting his collar, Shifty stood up and prepared to get the Author's attention. He knew the journals were important to the Author but he also felt famished. And it wasn't like the Author would ever be intentionally cruel. It was just he'd sometimes get so deeply focused on his work that he'd forget to take care of himself or any of his subjects.

Shifty tried to clear his dry throat and then raised his voice though it still sounded uncomfortably horse. "Doctor?"

Almost immediately the scribbling stopped and the Author turned around to see his subject. "Shifty, I see you're awake now. How long have you been up?"

"I just woke up." Shifty answered honestly. The Author always valued honesty and the truth. "And I'm sorry to interrupt your work but I'm rather hungry, doctor."

"Ah yes, I'll go find you something substantial. I might make myself something too. Now that I think about it, it has been I while since I last ate..." His chair screeched as he pushed away from his desk, painful enough to make Shifty grit his teeth, and then quickly stepped out of the room.

With the Author gone Shifty snuck forwards, to the very edge of his cage and tried to see past the glass to the beautiful journal which sat on the desk. He hoped to catch a glimpse at the new sort of discoveries the Author might of made. He especially loved to see the sketches of different monsters that lurked in the forests only a matter of feet above them. But it might as well of been miles seeing as Shifty was locked in a cage, within a locked room which also sat within a Russian-doll like complex of locked rooms. As it was today the journal was moved just far enough away that Shifty couldn't see it from his cage, even when he pressed his face flush to the glass.

When he heard the Author coming back he immediately stepped away from the glass and wiped the smudges his face made with his sleeve. The Author hated it whenever Shifty tried to look at his journals. He always said it might give him dangerous ideas. He knew the Author was trying to keep him safe but even with all the Author's rules and warnings he couldn't resist the Journal's allure. Just looking at the worn red cover made him feel something. But he didn't want to loose any more of the Author's trust.

The last time he had been caught had been back when he was allowed to roam freely through the bunker for a few hours as long as the Author was in the same room. That had been over a week ago, ever since then he had been strictly confined to the four glass walls of his cage. Who knew how much worse it could be if the Author caught him disobeying his rules while already being punished?

So when the Author stepped back into the room Shifty tried to seem as inconspicuous as possible. Trying to make his closeness to the glass seem like it was out of eagerness for food, which was partially true in a way, he was still famished. The Author set their breakfasts down on the desk before turning towards Shifty. He seemed to be contemplating something as he looked him over carefully. Oh no, somehow he knew he was trying to look at the journals! What if he had a magic spell put on the book, or maybe he had set up cameras to keep watching him even when he wasn't here!

"You have been good for the past week, have you not?" The Author asked, smiling lightly. Oh no, Shifty was certain he knew and he had no idea what he could do!

"I-I I've tried to be." Shifty said, hating the tremor in his voice he couldn't hide.

The Author looked him over still and it was all Shifty could do to not immediately start apologizing right there on the spot. Then seeming satisfied the Author's smile grew more genuine. "I suppose I could let you out for the morning and we could have our breakfast together out here. Since you've managed to remain so well behaved."

Shifty had to stop himself from sighing in relief. He hadn't been caught, at least he didn't think he had.

Before unlocking the door to his cage, the Author first took the Journal off his desk and locked it in the bottom draw. Then he stepped over to the cage. The lock on the door chimed its familiar code, one that Shifty now knew by heart though he was never allowed to touch the locks and the door hissed open. Cautiously Shifty took a step forwards, fearing that the Author's face would suddenly drop to a look of disgust and the door would be slammed shut. But the door stayed open as did the patient smile on his face.

"Thank you, doctor."

The Author nodded, resting his hand against Shifty's back and ushering him to the desk. "But of course! What sort of person would I be if I let good behavior go unrewarded." And though it wasn't said, Shifty felt like ' _or disobedience go unpunished..._ ' followed the words silently.

Pulling up a stool, he had Shifty sit down next to a plate. A sandwich that he assumed was probably turkey and cheese like most mornings, a generous helping of baked beans along with a tall glass of orange juice. Picking up his fork, he couldn't help but look at the beans and feel... Lonely? Like someone else had eaten them usually...

But Shifty was pulled from this thought when the Author spoke up. "So, did you sleep well?" He asked casually as he flicked through his beans with a fork. Shifty knew he almost never ate the food he served himself. Though he'd usually go through a glass or two, sometimes three, of the orange juice.

"Yes. It seems as though my nightmares aren't as frequent anymore." Shifty worried at his lip before continuing. When he had immediately woken up, he couldn't remember what his last dream had been about, only the weird aftertaste it seemed to leave on his mind. But as the morning continued he found he could remember more and more of it. And better understand why it made his mind uneasy. But the Author never liked having lies told to him and secrets kept from him... "But I did have a really weird dream. Just before I woke up. It wasn't scary per say, but it was still quite strange to me."

The Author seemed to perk up more at this, focusing less of his attention at pushing his beans across his plate and more on Shifty's face. "Oh? And what was this dream about exactly? Perhaps I can help explain to you best what you were seeing?"

Shifty closed his eyes, trying to focus, trying to will those fleeting images back into his head. "I... I think I was dreaming about you. Except you were small, a child. You were on a beach. Wandering through caves and building something... I'm not sure what it was, it was made from drift wood."

"That could make sense. I believe I have showed you a few pictures from my childhood. I grew up near the beach."

"But it wasn't just you. There... There were two-"

"Two children? That isn't much of a surprise. You see human children tend to try and flock together, friends I believe I've told you. And I had many as a child-"

"No, it wasn't a friend, it wasn't different child. Both the children had the same face... Your face doctor..." That's when he felt the Author's demeanor change. His smile didn't seem quite so warm any more. But Shifty couldn't stop now, not when so much of the dream was beginning to come back to him. "You were always together, laughing and playing. And you both started chanting 'Stan and Stan Pines! Kings of New Jers-"

"Shifty? I don't like where you're going with this." The Author warned him coldly.

"There were two Stans... They were both able to exist as Stan. Both of them could be Stan-"

"Shifty, you couldn't be another Stanford. This was just a dream, it has no greater meaning."

"But it felt so real, doctor. It felt like... I felt like I was one of those children."

"Shifty?"

"That I was a Stan Pines."

"Shifty, stop!"

"That I could be a human."

" **Shifty! I said stop!** "

The Author slammed his open palm down on the table and stood up, towering over Shifty.

Shifty instinctively flinched away from the Author, waiting for something horrible to happen. Crashing glass. Accusations of never being good enough. The crack of a leather belt.

What? The Author had never done such a thing to him. Where were all these thoughts coming from?

The Author did none of those horrible things that instinctively went through his head. Instead he took a deep breath, pinching the bridge of his nose before relaxing. And when he spoke it was soft, yet firm at the same time. "Shifty? Shifty look at me, please."

He hadn't even realized he had curled up into a ball. Carefully he brought his legs back down from his chest and turned to face the Author.

"Shifty. I know you really wish you were... An ordinary human. But you aren't. You can't be. You can never be one of them. You know in you're mind this will always be true."

His heart felt heavier at that. The words seemed to open some sort of flood bank inside him and he could feel his breath pick up and tears sting his eyes.

"You aren't a human, Shifty. You will never be a human. No matter what form you try to take on. You aren't any creature from this world... You would never be able to blend in. You know why you'd stick out immediately. Why you could never be human..."

The Author brought his hands forwards, gently grasping Shifty's attempted humanoid hands and brought them up into the light. And Shifty could only look at his own wrong, malformed hands being held within a pair so perfectly normal.

"Because... Because humans don't have six fingers. They have five."

He could feel tears streaming down his face. He desperately wanted to free his hands from the Author's, the real Stanford Pines's, but his grip was firm and refused to let Shifty hide his hands away. He knew this message still had to be driven home. So he just cried into the sleeve of his dirty jacket, desperately trying not to look at his own hands Stanford still held up in the light for both to see clearly. All their faults and failures. All being held between a pair of perfect five-fingered hands.

Eventually Stanford's tight hold on his hand relaxed and he set the hands gently in Shifty's lap. By this point his cries had died down to just stuttering breath and red, blotchy eyes. He felt so exhausted suddenly. He couldn't even will himself to move as Stanford drew him into a warm hug. Rubbing soothing circles into his back and hair.

"I'm so sorry Shifty, but you know I have to do this for your own good. You're kind was never meant to be here. You're too naive, you believe what others say so easily. And Its not your fault, but you get so excited you do things without thinking of consequence. You could hurt someone, even kill someone without meaning to. Or understand why it's wrong. That's why I have to keep you down here. Why I keep that collar on your neck to keep you from shifting into any other forms. I need to keep the world safe from you... And you safe from the world. You know this is true."

"I... I do." He said still trying to get his breathing back to normal.

"I know you do, Shifty. I know." Then much sooner then Shifty would of liked, Stanford pulled away from him and sat back down in his own chair. "Now come on! You've barely even touched your breakfast. I know crying like that must of been miserable, especially with an empty stomach. At least drink some of your orange juice."

Shifty nodded and drank some from the glass and Stanford smiled approvingly before continuing. "Now, I think it would be best if we kept you're mind off your... little dream about human children. Off humans entirely actually! So today, as long as you're good of course, you may assist me in classifying and testing all my other specimens in the south wing of the bunker. You would enjoy that, right Shifty?"

"Yes, I would enjoy that a lot, doctor." Something about being around so many different creatures, and discovering new secrets about every single one appealed greatly to Shifty in a way he couldn't quite explain.

"Excellent! Then hurry up and finish your breakfast, Shifty! We have a long day of research ahead of us!"


End file.
